Questions

Hi all
I dont really know much about thyroid disorder, other than what Ive heard from a few family and friends along the way in life. I am only 19. Needless to say, that knowledge doesnt amount to much. I've heard from many people, etc. that thyroid problems are very often misdiagnosed, etc. and that many times, blood will normal. My question being, is there a possibility someone like myself, could have such a problem. Almost 2 years ago now I had many many blood tests taken by a neurologist. My 2 major "problems" have you, were a low b-12 count...I think it was around 300 or so...and a thyroid, on the lower side of things. The dr advised to possibly look into thyroid problems, but it wasnt alarmingly low, so nothing was done. Around 6 months later, or so, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I seemingly have many immune issues, but no real explanation, at least from what I can see. I was recently taken to the hospital for a horrificly bad reaction to an anti-biotic. While they couldnt find anything wrong with me in the hospital either, aside from a very low WBC count, that went right back up to normal after the medication was out of my system, the only other problem they could find was a low potassium level. I understand that I fibromyalgia, but sometimes I wonder about the thyroid, b/c my body just doesnt feel like it knows what is wrong. Is it possible? Do many people have a lower thyroid with nothing wrong with them? I dont know, any input would be wonderful

Hi Hailey,
It's quite likely that if one doctor suspected your thyroid wasn't quite "right", it isn't.
What you've heard about it being misdiagnosed and missed altogether is sadly all too true. Thyroid tests often look "normal" to the inexperienced eye, and just because a person has "MD" behind his name doesn't mean he's experienced in thyroid. It takes on average, 6 doctors before thyroid disease is correctly diagnosed. That's how poor most are at recognizing it.

All the conditions you have, from low B-12 to fibromyalgia to the reaction to the antibiotic can be caused by low thyroid function. You should find a doctor who is truly well-versed in thyroid disease and have him/her run a panel of thyroid tests. The best ones are TSH, free T4, free T3, and thyroid antibodies (TPO and Tg). If your TSH is normal, high-normal or above, and your free Ts are in the bottom half of their ranges, you're hypothyroid.

If you have results from the thyroid tests you've had done, you can post the results here. We might be able to see what the doctor has missed.
No matter what... you should pursue this.

Thank you for the input. The idea of it, honestly, really scares me. Ever since Ive started to get sick, a couple of years ago now, Ive had one bad thing happen to me, after another. Ive just become very anxious and paranoid about my body. In the past I havent exactly had the oppurtunity to be able to afford many dr visits. Question...if it can be answered, are yeast infections common with this condition, I know they are with my fibro. Just curious. Thanks

Each and every system in the body can be adversely affected by hypothyroidism, because thyroid hormone is used by every cell in the body. If there isn't enough thyroid hormone, anything can go wonky. It affects your mental outlook, too.
So yes. Your yeast infections are probably connected.

The Univ of Cal-Davis has easy-to-understand information about hypoT on the following website - [url]http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/healthconsumers/health/000038.shtml#[/url]
(Remove the [url] and [/url] - if it appears - before copying and pasting into your browser address bar.)
Be sure to click all the links at the right of the page for all of the info available there.

I understand how budget issues will keep a person from seeing the doctor. But once your thyroid is regulated, many of the other conditions will be cured, or at least vastly improved. It can take a good amount of time and several office visits to get the dose exactly right, but it's worth it to have the other things taken care of once and for all.